Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Dumb as a Box of Rocks

Dozens of Unicoi County [Tennessee] High School Parents are reeling with the news that graphic pictures of their daughters may have been posted on the internet, and the teenagers may not have even known it.

I'm a little confused about that sentence, since the story makes clear that these girls don't really have "parents" as that word is normally understood: What actually happened is that the girls themselves posted the pictures on the internet, some guy at their school found them and then re-posted them as a collection.

The Unicoi County Sheriff's Office has charged an 18-year-old male with "unlawful photographing in violation of privacy." Authorities say that means he posted graphic photos of at least 20 high school-aged girls on the internet.

It's unclear what that could possibly mean: Are they alleging a copyright violation? Since the pictures were published by the girls to begin with, what exactly did this poor dunce do that was a criminal violation? If a young woman leaves her shades open, is it a criminal offense to look? To point and yell, "Good Lord! Look at that!"

Sheriff Harris says the suspect compiled the photos from various websites without the girls permission.

Aha. A clear copyright violation.

The sheriff thinks the girls did not realize where the pictures would end up. "A lot of girls simply sent these photos thinking it was secure site, or that only a friend would see this.

Well, sure, but that happened after these poor victims had "graphic" pictures taken in the first place.